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Technoblade didn't know why Dream was so panicked.
It had only been a few minutes since the lava was brought down and Dream had cowered into one of the corners with his knees up to his chest. The man in question was an absolute mess; dirty clothes, bruises all over his skin, dark eye bags and overgrown hair. Techno was convinced that Dream's hair had to be infested with fleas at this point.
The bruises all over him and his torn clothes held some history which Techno was certain Dream wouldn't want to share. His eye bags proved that he hasn't slept for at least a couple of days and he didn't bother to try and tend to his hair.
Luckily, Techno brought the right necessities that may fix him up. He brought them over to Dream and waved it in front of his face.
Dream seemed to notice and looked up from his curled-up position. "Uh… Techno? What are you holding?"
The piglin-hybrid rolled his eyes and looked at him, up and down. "A bit of perfume and shampoo is all. Oh, and deodorant. You do have a shower, right?"
Dream blinked a few times, unable to answer and only held out a finger for a few seconds. "I… you just… carry those everywhere with you?"
"Phil said to bring these wherever we went so we, y'know, don't stink?" Techno shrugged.
Dream made some kind of noise which Techno assumed was an offended one. He didn't know why he was so offended, he was right. The man stunk. Bad.
"I'm not that stinky!" Dream said before bringing some of his hair in front of him and ever so slightly sniffed it, trying not to wince because Techno was right; he stunk.
"Keep tellin' yourself that," Techno said. He dropped the bag of cleaning products next to Dream and paced around the small, obsidian room. There wasn't much in the room; a chest filled with mostly blank books, an empty frame, a crappy toilet and a strange, large hole in the ground filled with water. Unfortunately, there was no clock in the room, so it was impossible to tell the time.
Some parts of the room were cracked, the cracks glowing bright purple. Despite there being a whole wall of lava, the back of the room was a bit dark, the bright purple cracks were mostly illuminating the area. Occasionally, drops of some kind of bright purple liquid would seep through the cracks and fall to the ground before disappearing. It was all just sad, honestly. And how long did Dream said he was stuck in here for? Six months?
Techno turned to Dream who still appeared to be staring blankly at nothing with his knees still up to his chest. Techno still couldn't believe that this was the same man who fought in great wars and saved him from being executed. It was all so pathetic, if he was being honest. He walked over to him and snapped his fingers, somewhat breaking Dream's gaze.
"Oi, green man," Techno said. "You got any food in here? I'm starvin'."
Dream sighed and got up, heading over to the chest. He grabbed a plastic bag filled with what Techno assumed was food. It clearly wasn't a lot, but at least he's not dying of starvation.
Dream grabbed one of the food out of the bag and tossed it to Techno, the latter raising up his hand and catching it mid air.
Techno looked down at it and--
Is that?
"Potatoes?" Techno asked, a tinge of relief slipping through.
"Yup," Dream said. "There isn't a lot and Sam only gives me food once every three days, and he usually gives around four. I've managed but now that you're here, it clearly won't be enough."
Yeesh. Four potatoes for three days? Techno couldn't imagine it. He examined the vegetable closely then realized there was something… off about it.
"Are these cooked?"
"No," Dream answered. "Sam doesn't bother to cook them and it turns out, uncooked potato is not too bad."
What kind of life was this man living?
"Oh, you've got to be kiddin' me," Techno said, letting out a somewhat exasperated sigh. "You have a wall of lava in front of you and never try to cook them?"
Dream shook his head.
"Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable." Techno pinched the bridge of his nose. "Hand me that frame."
Dream raised an eyebrow.
"Come on, we-- I don't have all day."
Dream eventually complied and removed the frame from the wall, handing it to Techno. He was filled with instant regret when the piglin hybrid started to smash the frame into pieces.
How on Earth does he not break a bone?
"Hey-- hey!" Dream yelled, panicked. "What-- what are you doing with my frame?"
"Smashin' it into pieces," Techno said casually. "I thought it was obvious."
"Well, stop! Please!" Dream begged. "It was supposed to be for my clock! Where's it gonna go now?"
Techno rolled his eyes as he continued to break the frame apart. "You don't have a clock anymore so what's the point?"
Dream continued to mutter a bunch of words Techno couldn't comprehend over the noise of him breaking the frame. Eventually, he broke it enough to snap two parts of it off, looking almost like a stick. Satisfied, he tossed the other pieces aside, much to Dream's disappointment.
"I'm gonna teach you how to cook a potato," Techno said before sticking the potato he had been given onto the stick-like piece of the frame. Dream's eyes lit up ever so slightly when Techno gestured him to follow.
"Now, don't get too close to the lava or else it would burn to a crisp," Techno said. "The place where I'm standin' right now is hot enough."
Dream nodded as Techno held out the potato-on-a-stick.
Techno continued to explain the basic steps of cooking and as it turns out, it wasn't that hard. A few minutes later, Techno confirmed that it was fully cooked. He removed the potato from the stick and split it in half, blowing on it once.
"Cool it down by blowin' on it if you don't want your mouth to gulf up in flames," Techno said and tossed one of the halves to Dream, the man tossing it from one hand to another, not expecting it to be so hot. It was a literal game of hot potato.
Techno bit into his potato without cooling it down, watching as Dream continuously blew on it before biting into it, eyes widening as he took another bite.
It was so… good? It felt like he was eating some high class food at that moment. He hadn't eaten anything so tasty and warm in forever. It felt like…
Home.
"Good?" Techno asked, though he already knew the answer to that.
Dream nodded, mouth full. "I haven't eaten something like this in… forever," he said, voice a bit muffled. "Technoblade, I…"
Thank you.
"We can do it again tomorrow, dependin' on how much we have left," Techno said, already finished eating and brushing off whatever leftovers were on his hands.
Dream took a last bite of his potato and hummed. Yeah, his last chance of escaping was compromised by a lot, but he guessed it wasn't so bad. Techno was certainly better company.
"Yeah," Dream finally agreed. "Yeah, that would be nice."
Eating a hot meal was enough to satisfy him for a month.
"So," Techno said, averting his gaze from the ceiling to his new roommate and getting up from his lying position. "About that hair of yours…"
It had been two-- no, three hours since Techno was trapped in the cell. The two haven't conversed since the meal. They've gone to their respective corner across the cell, putting a large distance between them. During those hours, whilst Techno was rummaging through his memories of the layout of the prison, Dream was curled up in the corner, half asleep.
What the heck was going through that mind of his? Techno assumed that he would rather not know.
"What about it?" Dream perked up, so tired that his voice was no louder than a whisper, but Techno was able to catch it.
"It's close to bein' as long as Rapunzel's," Techno responded. "Heck, it's as long as mine now."
"Your point?" Dream asked. "Also, it is nowhere close to Rapunzel's length."
"Thank gosh, then. I can't imagine a mess of hair like yours bein' seventy feet long."
"Look, it's not like I had enough resources to clean it," Dream said, sighing.
Techno got onto his feet and walked over to Dream, grabbing the man by the wrist and forcing him to get up.
"What the-- just what do you think you're doing?"
"Treatment," Techno said simply and got Dream onto his feet and dragged him towards a corner of the room where the hole in the ground filled with water resided.
"Is this clean?" Techno asked, gesturing towards the water.
"Most likely," Dream said.
"Good enough." Techno pushed Dream to the ground and made him sit as he grabbed the bag of cleaning products he dropped on the ground a few hours ago. He brought out the shampoo and walked back to Dream.
"Hold still and hold your breath," Techno said. "And try not to scream, will you?"
"What are you--" Dream was cut off by Techno dipping his entire head into the hole of water. Despite Techno's requests, Dream tried to scream.
"I said not to scream, jeez," Techno said and poured some-- no, a lot of shampoo onto Dream's hair. "Scrub it because I ain't doin' it."
Dream figured that it would end sooner if he complied. So he began scrubbing his hair, and it felt so… weird that his hair was being treated again.
It was a lot harder than before since his hair was way shorter than the one he has now, but the 'treatment' as Techno called it finally ended around fifteen minutes later.
There was no sort of cloth to dry his hair, so they compromised and used the heat of the lava instead. It was nice; he forgot how a real shower felt like.
"Now your hair won't be a flea nest," Techno said.
"Uh… thanks?"
"Now come here and let me tidy up that monstrosity."
Dream was about to protest but decided against it. He walked over to him and sat down, completely silent.
It turns out, Techno wasn't planning on pulling all his hair out. He actually didn't feel any pain as the piglin hybrid did who knows what to his hair.
Once he was done, he brought his hands to his tended hair and…
Did he…?
"You… braided it?" Dream asked in disbelief.
"I couldn't stand seein' a bird's nest on your head," Techno said. "I had to do something about it before actual birds decide to rest on it."
Dream snorted and for once in his life, he felt… clean. Yeah, he cleaned himself during his first days on the server and in the middle of wars, but he was covered in blood (his and others'), ash and dirt so frequently that he never really bothered too much about it. It was a nice change.
But man, did his wounds really stung in the water.
Techno went back into his corner as if nothing had happened, and Dream did so as well.
He didn't want to get used to it; he was escaping one way or another and will be faced with many challenges, old and new.
He couldn't afford luxury at the moment.
"So, I memorized the prison's layout for when we get the chance to escape," Techno started. "I think there may be some areas where we won't get caught by the--"
Snoring. That's what Techno heard.
He moved his head towards the direction and was now lying on his side. He was looking at a man who had fought in way too many wars, a man who hurt way too many people, a man who received so much karma. A sleeping man.
Dream.
Weird because he looked abnormally peaceful.
But Techno didn't just hear snoring, he also noticed…
Shivering.
Shivering? While in front of a damn lava wall? It was hard to believe. Or maybe that was because he was part piglin, but he couldn't tell.
Yes, Dream was shivering despite the hot temperature. Maybe he had been in front of the wall for too long to the point where he didn't feel its heat anymore. Maybe he was cold from the shower earlier. Whatever it was, the shivering and snoring was getting a bit too annoying for Techno's liking.
He sighed and got up, untying the cloak around his neck. He stood in front of Dream and draped the cloak over him, pausing only when the man flinched then went back to a more comfortable sleep.
Techno went back to his corner and used his arm as a pillow as he stared at the ceiling, slowly closing his eyes.
Good day, afternoon or night green man, he thought. I have a feeling that we're gonna be roommates for a looong time.
And he closed his eyes.